Re: TSWLTH revisited

(Longish, but shorter than Kate's message)

Since Kate asks: I am a private individual with no employee connection to
JoAnn Fab. Not the company; not the store manager.

You are dead wrong to say my message was in direct response to a complaint
to JoAnn Fab. Juno has acknowledged this belatedly and said herself she owes
JoAnn Fab an apology. (Progress is being made!)

But I do shop there and have occasionally observed ill treatment of clerks
by those who live by the old saw you mentioned: "The customer is always
right." That, of course, isn't true, and has been replaced by "The customer
isn't always right, but she's always the customer". Loosely translated:
"Don't plan on working happily in retail unless you're prepared to meet
with a smile on your face if possible, the unreasonable demands of an
occasional prima donna."

Like the ridiculous request Juno made of the clerk to "measure all the
fabric in a bolt".

In my JoAnn's, clerks are there to maintain the stock and keep it orderly,
point the way to fabrics, notions or patterns, and to measure, cut and price
goods to be rung up. No problem would have occured had Juno simply had her
friend's yardage cut FIRST, and then see if there was enough left on the
bolt for her piece. And she'd have to know how big a piece her friend
wanted; otherwise the total yardage on the bolt is a meaningless figure.

But Noooooooo, she makes a federal case out of it, knowing there are plenty
of others around here who "love to HATE" the store who done her wrong.

I told her so privately, not wishing to add my private correspondence to a
public group or to take her to task publically. Feelings, you know. But she
did anyway, jumping at the conclusion that I speak for JoAnn Fab, so here we
are..

I don't shy away from expressing myself publically, as you suggest. In that
connection, I think that others, including yourself, should show restraint
and disclipline and utilize private emails more often for topics of limited
interest, rather than clutter up the NG with stuff like I'm responding to,
or writing now, for that matter.

After all, nobody's mind is going to be changed about JoAnn/s Fabrics by
others' stories of real or imagined slights.

Because nobody's that influential here, regardless of what they think.
Kate, because I know you're not a sheep, if you venture to our shores
you'll probably check out JoAnn's for yourself, too. I'm sure you'll be
treated kindly when you do.

Just Plain Bill


Kate Dicey" <kate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43633b30$0$15035$ed2619ec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> w_boyce wrote:
>
>> I sent the attached opinion in a private email to Juno. She then sees fit
>> to publish it herein, passing it off as "the" response from JoAnn
>> Fabrics to her complaint, even though it bore my name and not JoAnn Fab.
>> and I signed it "Bill".
>>
>> This does nothing but further inflame like-minded JoAnn haters with
>> anecdotal "evidence" about how the clerks didn't bow to them low or long
>> enough.
>
>
> And you are who? The manager of the store that Juno visited? As this was
> sent in direct reply to a FORM FILLED IN ON THE JOANNE WEBSITE, I think
> she could safely assume it was an official company reply, however it was
> signed. Her treatment and your reply here do not inspire me to visit any
> JoAnne Fabric stores, should I visit the USA. A business reputation is
> built on what people say about your business after visiting the premises:
> that is, anecdotal evidence.
>
> Whenever I go to a new area, I ask my friends and acquaintances where the
> GOOD fabric stores are, and by 'good' I mean those where the fabric is
> nice for the price, the prices good for the goods sold, and the staff and
> management knowledgeable, helpful, and considerate of their customers
> wishes. I will travel a long way for that treatment: 350 miles in one
> case! I live in Kent, and the shop is in Washington New Town at the other
> end of England. I also go to Bradford, and Coventry, and Wembley... In
> all these stores, Juno's request would have been dealt with swiftly,
> courteously, and she would have been given exactly the information she and
> her acquaintance needed to make their double purchase without any fuss at
> all. I have done very similar things in most of the stores in these
> places I frequent. And I have come back here and put the shop names in my
> Fabric List on my web site and told the whole world how great the shop was
> to me with my fussy request.
>
> Unfortunately, the staff at the store Juno visited ticked her off, and the
> result is that yet again JoAnne's reputation for shoddy customer treatment
> has sped round the world. A poor reputation is very easy to gain, and
> once a business has a poor reputation, it may take YEARS to get out of the
> pit it has dug for itself. With today's massive increase in internet
> sales, and the easy access we have to world-wide GOOD businesses where
> they really believe the hoary old maxim that The Customer is ALWAYS right,
> businesses have to be much more careful of their reputations. It is so
> much easier not to bother with a store where the staff know nothing about
> what they are doing, care less about the customer, and the boss is rude
> when a complaint is voiced. It is so much nicer to pick up the phone or
> drop an email on a company that deals with your request and answers the
> question swiftly and without fuss.
>
> Kent, for all its proximity to London, is a fabric desert. As a
> professional dress and costume maker, and recreational quilter, I travel
> the world electronically to source things for my customers and projects:
> I've been to Australia for patterns, to the USA for patterns, a cocked
> hat, thread and fabric, to Hawaii for more fabric... I've bought fabric
> from Hong Kong, and purchased directly from the weaver (almost straight
> off the loom!) in Selkirk and Harris and Yorkshire (the wool here in the
> UK is to die for). Through this list and others I have many friends in
> the USA: they are very fair folk, on the whole. If they get good
> treatment, they come and rave about it. If they discover a fantastic
> gadget or fabric, they wave it under our noses so we can know about it and
> get it too... I can't see me bothering with JoAnne Fabrics on their
> present world-wide reputation for abysmal service and shoddy good.
>
> Juno has a reputation here for being fair: a little while back she came to
> us delighted with the service she got from her local JoAnne's, eager to
> tell us that there WERE knowledgeable and helpful staff. We were all
> pleased that the company seemed to have heard their customers and were
> looking to improve: this can only be a good thing. Unfortunately that
> member of staff seems to have vanished, and her most recent experience has
> destroyed her confidence in the company once more, and enhanced the poor
> reputation they have made for themselves.
>
>>
>> And how about the anointed Karen D. (below) who seems proud to be holding
>> court at the cutting table preaching to the great slueless unwashed on
>> how to sew halloween costumes! No wonder the clerks occasionally get
>> short with self-satisfied people with huge egos who walk in their doors.
>
> Karen doesn't appear to have a huge ego. She has many years of dress,
> costume, and quilting experience. Her situation is one I have also
> frequently found myself in: the 'once in a lifetime' sewist at the counter
> with a member of staff who may be a new 'Saturday Girl' and has little or
> no sewing experience. If that member of staff cannot help the customer, a
> helpful and knowledgeable fellow customer can ensure a good result for
> both: the inexperienced customer learns something, makes a suitable
> purchase, and has a good sewing experience, so comes back for more... The
> sales assistant learns something he or she can use with the next innocent
> customer, and makes another good sale to a customer who will then come
> back... And the experienced customer has ensured that her local shop has
> a bit more business and so is less likely to vanish.
>>
>> Keep the claws in w.r.t JoAnn Fabrics, ladies, you might snag the goods.
>> In fairness, they don't deserve this bum rap or the tag tswlth.
>
> Many of us will now be staying out of the stores altogether.
>>
>> Now let's all sew.
>
> With nice fabric and thread bought from nice places, where customer
> service is what it should be.
>
> --
> Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
> Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
> http://www.katedicey.co.uk
> Click on Kate's Pages and explore!


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